Then, the story goes on to point out the following:

The commission's recall releases sometimes mention other government agencies that discover hazardous products. But the commission does not generally credit individual people or nonprofit groups when they discover problems.

In fact, in a flurry of lead jewelry recall announcements released Wednesday, CPSC credits the New York Attorney General's office but not Ward Stone, who may have notified the New York AG of several of the problems resulting in the recalls, including

hazardous levels of lead in dozens of children's necklaces and bracelets sold at stores like Michaels and Big Lots after they tested jewelry that Montana had received at birthday parties.

We're not surprised, as we haven't been credited since Ann Brown ran the CPSC under the Clinton administration, although the CPSC has since informed us in letters of its actions taken on dozens of toys in our annual Trouble In Toyland reports. Often a press release is not even issued, because the manufacturer doesn't want one.

One problem is the general corporate bias of the CPSC's current leadership. A second is a wrong-headed provision of law known inside the beltway as Section 6(b), which allows manufacturers to control public disclosure of information about their products, even after action is taken. Among the weaker parts of generally laudable Congressional efforts by Congress to improve the CPSC in proposed legislation are modest proposals to modify, but not repeal, 6(b).